


Stag In The Woods

by Eternal_Love_Song



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Killer Will, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-07 08:48:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8791219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eternal_Love_Song/pseuds/Eternal_Love_Song
Summary: Hannibal comes across Will burying a body in the woods... on his way to bury a body in the woods.





	

The woods were dark, a by-product of it being pitch black midnight. The wind was biting, making him wish his jacket was tighter, the season were warmer, and this body were lighter. It was too close to winter for his liking, but better to get this done before the snow made everything more difficult. He had tried to bury a body in the winter before and it was pure hell. The ground was too hard, it was too damn cold, snow was hard to stumble through and it left tracks.

That had been around the time of his first kill, so it was reasonable that he made a few mistakes. He'd been killing for too long now, though, to have worn such a flimsy jacket when he knew he'd have to stroll around at midnight. He always made little mistakes like that. Like forgetting to dress for the weather or murdering people too late in the fall.

It was annoying having to carrying all this dead weight around, too. He wanted to drag her, but that would leave a trail pointing straight to him, possibly allow the sticks and twigs everywhere to break the bag and snag on hair or flesh and maybe leave evidence, and that is not something that he wanted to deal with. He was a terrible liar, after all.

Okay, he wasn’t a terrible liar. Terrible liars could not be successful serial killers and Will had been at this for a while now. That didn’t make him good at it. Yeah, he could hide a body, and his awkwardness usually did enough to excuse any odd behavior he exhibited, but he couldn’t give someone a false compliment without tripping over his tongue half a dozen times before he could make it to the period at the end of the sentence.

It was not that Will didn’t like people. He liked people. He liked people he didn’t murder. People were… fine… on occasion. Dogs were better. But Will Graham definitely liked people. (In small quantities, in small doses, spread over larger periods of time.) The problem was that people were difficult and interacting with them was stressful and sometimes he needed to relieve the stress. 

He wished he’d brought a light with him, as he began to dig his shovel into the ground. He knew the reasons that he had not, it would be dumb to have something that could bring attention to the fact that he was stumbling around in the woods this late at night, but he was still grumpy about the fact that it was so difficult to see. He wished that the moon was full, despite knowing that would barely make a difference. A full moon did not really provide that much light, and even if it did, most of the trees were tall enough to obscure light.

He had just about gotten the grave deep enough when he heard someone call his name. He turned around swiftly, nearly stumbling in his haste, finding a well dressed someone standing there watching him. Slightly too far away for quick hit with his shovel to finish him off. After a moment, recognition came to him and Will realized that he was in more trouble than he was certain he could get out of.

Of course, he had already dug a grave, so he had no problem shoving another body into it.

*~*

Will Graham was interesting. Hannibal had come to that conclusion upon their first few meetings. He was the only person to charm Hannibal with less than pleasant behavior. He was awkward and foul footed in his interactions with others. He was possessed of a wit that left Hannibal wanting more, wanting to dig deeper into this man’s psyche, something that he took every opportunity to do.

There was something far too intriguing to ignore about finding Will Graham in the middle of the woods burying a body. It was not what Hannibal had expected when he contemplated the intricacies and mysteries of this man, but that was not to say that the possibility had not entered his mind. Hannibal watched the man for a while as he debated what to do. He had come here to handle his own business, after all. It was not really the best time to make pleasantries and small talk. It was also unlikely that he would get such an opportunity again.

After allowing himself a few moments thought, he deemed himself able to handle the situation however it should turn out. He was not so attached to Will Graham that he could not kill him when he desired to, but he would like to avoid that outcome if possible. Will Graham was fascinating. He was fascinating and he didn’t want to lose that.

Positioning himself a strategic distance away, wary of the shovel’s reach, he spoke up casually, fully away that he would startle the man. “Will Graham,”

The man nearly stumbled in his haste to turn around and face him. “Hannibal?”

“Fancy a stroll through the woods?” Hannibal questioned. He could see, clearly, what Will was doing out here, but Will didn’t know that. Not with certainty. It was dark, after all, and Hannibal had kept his distance just enough to throw the assumption into some doubt.

“What are you doing here?” Will asked. His eyes, while usually all over the place in his haste to avoid eye contact, were more frantic than usual. Panicking, perhaps, calculating a way out of his current predicament.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Hannibal answered coolly. “In fact, I just did.”

“I, uh, couldn’t sleep.”

“And you figured this was the most soothing thing that you could do?”

“Never went for a walk to clear your head before?”

“I certainly have. I am also absolutely certain that that is not what has brought you here.”

Will’s gaze was darting about calculatingly. Hannibal was a fan of Will’s mental processing, but allowing him too much time to think would not end well for Hannibal. At some point, Will would be moved to the point of attacking and then the fun would end, one way or another. Hannibal was not decided upon killing Will and was, in fact, opposed to the idea. 

Best to move things along, then.

“Who was she?”

“She? What she?” Will replied uncertainly.

Hannibal gave him a wry look for feigning ignorance. “I admit to making some assumption in regard to gender, but I would rather we do away with this pretense of innocence in favor of honest conversation.”

Will debated this for a moment. It wasn’t as if he could play dumb, but Hannibal was sure he wouldn’t jump at a chance to readily confess either. Still, as long as He wasn’t giving Will any signs of disapproval, the man would probably keep at least some of his calm in tact.

“No one I knew,” Will answered carefully. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“You can’t expect me to think that you aren’t out here to do exactly the same thing as me,” Will said. “You don’t even look fazed by all this.”

“It’s dangerous to make an accusation like that, Will.”

“Yeah,” Will agreed. “As dangerous as a walk in the woods.” 

There was a challenge in Will’s eyes now. Hannibal decided to meet it.

He took a step closer, as smooth as it was carefully measured. “Don’t you think that hole’s a bit shallow?” 

Will glanced down briefly, not wanting to take his eyes off of Hannibal. “Depends on what’s going into it,” Will answered carefully. “Trust is a lot harder to bury than goodwill and reputation.”

“Perhaps all three,” Hannibal suggested. “I daresay that should anyone stumble upon such a secret, it would be much harder to sort out what I can only assume are two wildly different stories.”

“True,” Will agreed. He shoved his tool deeper into the ground and a number of steps away, gesturing to Hannibal. “If you’ve a story to add, you should probably write it yourself.”

They stayed there for a moment, in something of a standoff, before Hannibal approached and took the shovel in hand. “I suppose that you are correct. If we are to begin a tale here together, I’d best play my part.”

Will watched Hannibal with some amount of surprise and something much warmer. As far as first meetings went, Hannibal thought that he far preferred this to the one in Jack’s office. He was rather excited for the chance to meet the real Will Graham, though he was still not yet certain rather Will Graham was ready to meet the real him.


End file.
